About the Book: Invisible but not insignificant, microbes are the oldest and simplest life forms on earth. They have played a crucial role in determining environmental conditions on primeval earth. Even today they govern key natural cycles. They are an industrial workforce to reckon with—at work in bread, beer, cheese, wine, pharmaceutical and pesticide manufacturing units. They are used in bioremediation, recycling of wastes and in mining elements from low grade ores. Once in a while they bring pestilence but only when human actions provide favourable conditions. Take a close look at these teeming millions that live unseen around and within us for it is they who hold the key to a better world. Welcome to the world of microbes!

About the Author: A popular science writer, par excellence, Dr Phondke writes not only in English but in Marathi and Hindi too. With the NCSTC National Award and INSA Indira Gandhi Award for the best science and technology coverage in his bag, he added one more, the Dr B.C. Deb Memorial Award for science popularisation. After obtaining his M.Sc. (Bombay) and Ph.D. (London) in nuclear physics and biophysics-immunology respectively, Dr Phondke served a 23-year stint as a research scientist in BARC during which he published about 100 research papers. He then switched over to science communication and served as editor of Science Today and science editor of the The Times of India group of newspapers. He was also Director of National Institute of Science Communication (CSIR).